Editorial: Domestic Energy can help Obama answer Putin

Published 5:39 pm, Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Midland Independent School District received $53.2 million in oil and gas tax levies in the 2014 fiscal year

Midland Independent School District received $53.2 million in oil and gas tax levies in the 2014 fiscal year

Photo: Mikhail Kokhanchikov

Editorial: Domestic Energy can help Obama answer Putin

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is turning up in some mighty strange places lately.

On Thursday morning, New York Times readers found a Putin byline on the paper's Op-ed page, under the headline "A plea for caution from Russia."

What followed was a lecture by Putin from atop his moral high horse (with his shirt on, we assume). The cleaned-up former Kremlin hand mentioned subjects ranging from the pressing need to follow international law to the imperative of returning to "the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement."

Touchingly, the former KGB head closed with an almost evangelical invocation: "We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."

Really? A lecture from Vladimir Putin on diplomatic etiquette and democracy, wrapped in a sermon and tied with a bow? Now we've heard everything. Do we laugh or cry?

About this we are certain. The Russian leader is up to nothing but mischief. He is engaged in a campaign of international misdirection whose end game is returning Russia to its former status as a global superpower in what he perceives as a moment of American weakness.

We have this news for President Putin: The United States of America is only as weak as it chooses to be. At this pivotal moment, we choose to be strong.

So how do we respond to this most cynical of global showmen? With a bit of well-timed, carefully calculated misdirection of our own, we would suggest.

President Barack Obama should immediately take the lead in creating a North American Energy Alliance with our neighbors Canada and Mexico.

The time could not be more ripe for such a muscular regional entity to make its appearance on the global stage. Mexico is considering reforms in its national oil monopoly, Pemex, and Canada is in high gear developing its energy resources. With leadership from an American president, this could send a message of unity and economic strength to the world unlike any other, especially to Russia and the Middle East's petro potentates.

For all Putin's bluster, Russia is mostly a one-cylinder economy, based on its enormous fossil energy reserves. As Western Europe has learned the hard way, Putin is not bashful about using those reserves to intimidate his neighbors. This country can and should do everything in its considerable power to stop that from ever happening again. A strong regional energy alliance is the way to start.

Uncertainty in the Middle East, as appears likely to continue for decades, has historically put the global economy on a roller coaster ride at the whim of OPEC.

Never again. This country and its neighbors have the natural and human resources to help the world economy get off that roller coaster once and for all. A North American energy alliance would signal our commitment to do so.

The first mind that needs to be changed in order to accomplish all this belongs to President Obama. This is the right moment, Mr. President. Act forcefully and swiftly.

The president could jump-start this show of energy force with quick approval of completion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. He could follow quickly with steps to assist Mexico in moving away from its nationalized oil monopoly and into a new era of openness in developing its vast shale and offshore resources with assistance from outside parties.

To his credit, Obama has committed to be guided by Ronald Reagan's "trust but verify" maxim in dealing with the Russians.

The president has another potential Reagan moment at hand if he will only recognize it. In a 1980 Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire, the Gipper memorably quipped, "I am paying for this microphone" when the debate moderator attempted to turn the candidate's mic off.

Isn't it high time for Barack Obama to take away the microphone from Vladimir Putin? We say it is. And energy would be a powerful topic on which to speak - with a global megaphone.